the trouble starts
by XnightXcatX
Summary: Katara is a sixteen year old beauty in the southern water tribe. One day she is practicing her water bending away from her tribe until she sees a friend in need of her help and protection.


Nature's gift

Summary: Katara is a sixteen year old beauty in the southern water tribe. One day she is practicing her water bending away from her tribe until she see's a friend in need of her help and protection.

Come on Katara just a little higher. I was standing so close to an open spot in the ice when Sokka called me and I lost my concentration and water spilled all over me.

"Sokka! You saw what I was doing! What do you want?" a said already storming past him back to my igloo I was freezing and I started shivering from the cold.

"I came to get you to go on a fishing trip with me?" Sokka said trailing me and sitting in front of the fire, with his back to me, while I changed.

"I can't I have to help gran gran with the chores and a few other things," I said sitting next to him "sorry Sokka I just can't today, ok?"

He shrugged in response and said "s'ok I can get one of the other's to come along" he playfully hit my shoulder and left the igloo.

As soon as he left I crawled out of the igloo to see where he was. He had his back to me and he went into gran gran's igloo.

I ran away from my tribe with a small bag of fish heading towards my little place of isolation to scream, talk to the wind, and water bend to my heart's content.

I got there in no time. I was so used to running on the ice it became almost second nature to me. As I reached the top of the hill I decided against riding a penguin and saving the fish for later. I slide down on my back which was not such a good idea since I crashed into a big snow bank, it hurts much more than you would think.

I finally reached my spot. It was not much but it was a little sanctuary for me and it was enough for me: it has a small little cave to my right, an amazing view of the ocean and it has no shortage of animals.

I usually just water bend until I get tired which is exactly what I did today but I over did it and was completely exhausted so I started my fire and waited for my little friend came.

He is a buffalo yak. He is about a year old. He still a baby but you could never tell since he is so massive. I named him Hakoda after my dad.

Hakoda usually visits me when he smells my food and stays with me until it starts getting dark then he takes me home but today he could barely walk towards me.

I mentally hit myself for not putting a mark on him so nobody would think he was fair game. I went to the water's edge and filled up my water bag with enough to heal him up.

I walked towards him to find the source of all the blood on his beautiful fur. I held him down to properly heal his cuts and before I was able to thoroughly heal the biggest of the wounds I hear the clanking of medal.

I froze I know that sound all too well it's the fire nation. The war is still raging the damn fire nation won't stop coming it feels like its hopeless at times. I used the snow to make a barrier around the side of Hakoda. He seemed to sense that he needs to settle down.

I stood ready for the attach. I may not be a master water bender yet but I can hold my own in a fight, I stood in front of the snow bank. The clashing of medal growing louder and louder. Whoever this bender was he was arrogant he did not even try to hide himself.

Finally he entered my sanctuary, our eyes locked. Nothing but pure energy radiating between us, he broke the silence first.

"Where is my kill?" he narrowed his eyes at me. I stayed quite waiting for my opportunity.

"I know you can speak you _tribal present" _he strained when he said those last two words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Why do you need him? You must have supplies on your ship? Or do you just like hurting these animals for fun?" I uncapped my water bags, my legs were starting to shake from standing in a fighting position for so long but I could also see he was straining too in his armor.

"Well aren't you a little chatterbox. Now why should I tell you anything about what I like to do, girl?" he shifted to a less proper stance but I was still in close range I needed to get myself closer to the water.

"The names Katara get it right! And you are dancing around the answer, ass" I inched backwards leveling my arms.

"Since we are exchanging pleasantries I am Prince Zuko of the fire nation" he straightened up and I took another step back but there was no way I was afraid of this haughty idiot.

"Ok zu-" I could not even finish my sentence before he interrupted

"it's PRINCE Zuko to you, peasant" he took a few steps forward while speaking but I also took a few steps back and I was finally in the perfect position to make a good enough attack that would freeze his armor enough.

"don't correct me I know enough about you to know that you are an exile and that you were striped of your prince title and I told you once my name is ka-tar-a" I tensed up into my fighting stance which he seemed not in the least bit worried about.

"What are you going to fight me, ka-tar-a?" the way he spoke is just pissing me off. I lunged and could feel my adrenaline coursing through me. I may be untrained but I am powerful when I'm angry.

I raised my arms in one fluid motion I sent a huge wave spiraling towards him. The exile tried to block it with what I think look like a fire shield but it only made a small dent in my water and before you knew it he was soaked and less than a second later shivering.

"you…you…. you" he could not even get out the insult. He was shaking so much but I ignored him. He would survive. The prince was already trying to stand.

"Leave now you are not welcomed here." I said calmly and walked over to Hakoda I moved the snow and he was curled into a ball close to the fire I made earlier. I turned around to get more water since the little water I was going to use was not enough to heal him.

When I turned around the exiled prince was gone. "hmph good riddance" I filled it up quickly and re-started my work on Hakoda.

He was not flinching at all which was good and the burnt wounds healed up nicely. I gave him room to stand and he started running around. He nuzzled me and ran off.

The sun was going down quickly and I needed to gather fire wood for the night since Sokka will be late. I ran back to my tribe and who do you think I find lying in the snow without his armor.

"God this prince is an idiot!" he was in a long sleeve shirt with black pants and boots his armor and helmet right next to him. Without his helmet surrounding his face I managed to get a good look at him.

He was handsome. His features were sharp and defined, he had raven black hair that was long, and he was honestly very attractive. I so badly wanted to run my hand through his black hair but restrained myself. The scare over his eye did not take away from his looks but something that worried me was how pale he was and his lips were losing color fast.

I know I should not care for him but I can't turn my back on someone who needs help even though he does not deserve it. I pulled him on to my back but realized he was much taller than me.

I carried him until we were in sight of my village. I carried him into my igloo and set him down on my brother's sleeping bag and grabbed his extra coat. I leaned over him to make sure he was still alright.

"Zuko can you hear me?" I asked he looked at me his eyes beautiful they were an amber color. He looked frighten and resembled a small child I so badly wanted to hug him but quickly reminded myself that he was fire nation and he tried to hurt me.

"Put this one alright?" he acted much like a child. He did as he was told but he could hardly move. I guided his arms into the right holes. Then, I had to pull it down to cover the rest of his body while he could barely support himself.

"zuko you need to get into the sleeping bag ok?" he looked at me then nodded and he slipped himself into the warmth of the sleeping bag. During this slow process I could feel the heat of someone's glare. I was praying it was not Sokka I turned around to meet the unbelievable scary look of my gran gran.

My gran gran did not even say a word. She motioned me to come closer and I walked over. Might as well get this over with now.

"Katara how could you bring a fire nation man into our tribe, you know better than too endanger our tribe! Out of all of the people here I would never have expected you to fall for this man's trick? I am so disappointed you my own granddaughter about to cause another fire nation search and what worst is that this man is the prince he must have a whole fleet of ships and other men looking for him now you go and send him back! He has had enough sleep he can probably walk by now!" my gran gran was truly angry I had never seen her anger like this but what she thought was wrong.

"Gran Gran let me explain please? He is the EXILED prince Zuko he was probably separated from his ship and he probably only has maybe five or six men at the most and they would never be able to find him at least not tonight we blend perfectly with the snow I can take care of him tonight and make him leave the first thing in the morning. I'm sorry I was wrong to do this without your permission but it's just for tonight ok?" I could not read her face all I saw was a tired elderly woman who had enough stress for one day.

"fine Katara do whatever you want but remember your actions have consequences and I will check up on you during the night to make sure you and _him…are behaving." _I could not hold back my blush and quickly turned my head to the fire and went to me knees right in front of it, I could not handle my gran gran talking about that with me. GROSS.

She performed her usual nightly ritual. She told me goodnight, kissed my head, and squeezed my shoulder. I told her the same and touched her hand in response and just like that she went to her igloo.

I could not sleep yet I put on a pot of water over the fire and grabbed a cloth from a basket in the corner. While I was waiting for the water to heat up I sat next to the prince. I tried my best not to focus on his face but it was so much harder than I thought.

He had such strong features. He had a pointed chin like mine, his hair falling even more into his face now that he was laying down I lightly pushed it out of his face before I noticed what I was doing a mentally smacked myself for doing such a loving gesture to someone who tried to hurt me and Hakoda!

I went to check on the pot it was warm but not warm enough so with a heavy sigh I undid my hair and undid my hair loops letting it fall to my face. This has been one seriously long day.

A little steam started to form at the mouth of the pot I dunked the cloth into the water and held it there the warm water felt so nice against my skin. I decided I would take a bath in the morning after this guy was gone.

I pulled my hands out and rung out the rag and placed it on to the princes forehead. His face and neck was a little cold so I grabbed another blanket and put it on him.

Before I removed my hands from the blanket he opened his eyes just a little and my breath caught he looked right into my eyes and I melted. His eyes were so full of pain and sorrow but what I saw was someone who was completely kind, and innocently naïve in a way.

He was a handsome young man with gorgeous eyes but he was still fire nation which meant he could not be trusted and as if on cue he closed his eyes and turned over on his side curling up. He looked like a small child but I pushed those thoughts away and curled up in my own sleeping bag. I was so ready for this day to end.

Finally I'm done with my first chapter!My first story of the summer and plenty more to come this story was inspired by _colors of the wind_ from Pocahontas. It's one of my favorite Disney movies so this was a lot of fun to write. I hope you liked the ending and the next chapter will be out soon! Please review. Until next time!


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